


Inspiration (Creative Trade Remix)

by VorpalGirl



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fanfiction of Fanfiction, Frank Discussion of Deep Sea Fish, Gen, POV Outsider, TSS Fanworks Collective January Remix Challenge, Teacher AU, neurodivergent POV character, remix fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-17 02:55:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29093103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VorpalGirl/pseuds/VorpalGirl
Summary: For once, something interesting was happening in Mr Sanders’ classroom that did not involve someone needing to break out an EpiPen or an inhaler.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 7
Collections: TSS Fanworks Collective, TSS Fanworks Collective Discord: January Remix Challenge!





	Inspiration (Creative Trade Remix)

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Career](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27296104) by [Fangirlwriting](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fangirlwriting/pseuds/Fangirlwriting). 
  * In response to a prompt by [Fangirlwriting](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fangirlwriting/pseuds/Fangirlwriting) in the [tss_fanworks_collective_discord_january_remix_challenge](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/tss_fanworks_collective_discord_january_remix_challenge) collection. 



> Written as part of the TSSFC's January Remix Challenge! Most of fangirlwriting's Completed Works were allowed for "remix" so I went with the second entry in her Creative Trade series (and thus, this story makes a lot more sense if you've read that...though it can technically be read separately too, I suppose?). 
> 
> CWs: Without spoiling anything, let me just say that even though we don't see Remus in the fic, he seems to be there in spirit enough to give a blanket Content Warning along the lines of "Remus being Remus"...it's just not, you know, actually literally Remus. Nothing too terribly spicy, I think, but there's a character with an interest in "edgy" fiction let's just say! 
> 
> And yes, before you even ask: all things stated in the fic about the Fanfin Seadevil are [apparently true, according to the documentary video referenced both here and in the original fic](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqAPGWLvpmY) because nature is absolutely _wild_ , yo.

  
Riley Webster normally hated Mr Sanders’ class.

Well, no – “hate” was too strong a word. To actually _hate_ something, you would have to be able to muster a strong feeling for it. And the only feelings Mr. Sanders’ class ever instilled in her were boredom, ennui, and a vague sense of anxiety about her overall grade.

The latter wasn’t, she ostensibly knew, because she was stupid – to the contrary, according to the school counselor she was _very_ _smart_. The kind of kid who gets labeled things like “gifted”. Who gets saddled with _expectations._  
  
This was because she, as the saying went, “tested well”.

It wasn’t in other words, that she couldn’t learn or reason… it was simply that, in keeping with a pattern that had held for years, she found the actual _sheer mind-numbing drudgery_ of such unnecessary nuisances as homework, to be almost physically painful.

Unfortunately, as usual, Mr Sanders’ slideshow lecture was boring enough that with his very dulcet tones droning on about the ocean to provide background noise, her mind was already wandering.  
  
Naturally, it chose some less than fun places to arrive at first.

Like how she probably only had herself to blame probably, for being stuck in both this class and the equally boring math class she’d have two periods later. 

After all, it was her, wasn’t it? Who hadn't found the words to explain to the person who signed her up for classes, that she hadn’t found _math itself_ all that hard, just the _class?_ That to the contrary, part of the _problem_ was she generally had grasped it lightning-quick, which made math _homework_ – wherein one would inevitably have to do the same stupid problem 30 times in a row, just with different numbers, but also _show your work_ , meaning only ever use _one_ method to solve it and absolutely be _obligated_ to write out _all_ the steps in _positively_ _excruciating_ _detail, 30 freaking times in a row_ –  
  
– well. Torture. That’s what math class had been: _literal torture_ , as far as she was concerned. 

It made her want to scream to look at that many cloned problems all in a row. It made her want to _bite_ something, to know she had to do _all_ of them _exactly the same,_ horribly tedious, way. It made her want to _vibrate_ out of her _skin._

So when the registrar or whomever it was had asked:

“Do you not like math class, Riley?”

_She, stupidly, had answered “yes”._

It was possible that a more advanced course wouldn’t have been fun either, obviously. That her grades would _still_ have been ‘unexpectedly subpar’ and all, but – god, she would never have been stuck in the _‘basic’_ science and math courses, she was sure, if she had been able to _explain._

Including Mr Sanders’ course. Because of course, they stuck the kids in the ‘easy’ science tracks with the _newbie_ teacher at the school, who had apparently learned his presentation skills from, like… well, nowhere? Because he didn’t _have_ any. 

All he had was freaking _slides,_ that he read off of. And most of _those_ were just copying information from the textbook anyway.

She had had such high hopes, foolish as it had been in hindsight. Science was kind of cool, right? At least it wasn’t as boring as _math_ , and there was more _stuff_ in it to learn so you didn’t necessarily have to do the same stuff over and over as much, right? And she’d found she liked the cool possibilities raised in science _fiction_ , so maybe science _fact_ had cool stuff too? 

She used to like doing stuff like nature sketches and bean plant growing, back in elementary. And they were teenagers now, so maybe they’d even get to _dissect_ something!

Such… high hopes.

Dashed within the first week of school.

Sigh.

…double sigh, actually.

Now she had that Panic At the Disco song stuck in her head. In a place she couldn’t sing it without being ‘disruptive’ no less! Great! Just great. 

Anyway, she thought, she almost felt bad for disliking the class so much. Mr Sanders seemed… nice? No, he actually _was_ nice – he was patient enough, and he was understanding if she had to turn in things late, which was a _rare_ mercy most teachers didn’t afford without like, a note from the Governor or something. But…

He was just… so… _boring._

It was therefore no surprise to her when she caught sight of – and had to pretend she hadn’t caught sight of – a purple-clad girl, who she knew only she could see, sprawled out on the floor between the desks. 

She should win an Oscar or Emmy for keeping a straight face, she thought, as Calliope groaned, _loudly_ , about how that Stephen King book “moldering away” in her bag was a _lot_ more interesting than the way “Mr Blanders” was going on about the ocean, and then whined about not being able to read said book and started asking if they couldn't _at least_ doodle the Gunslinger into the margins of her notes or something?

"I mean, _come on_ ," her invisible companion said. "He's not even getting into any of the cool creepy stuff! Like, aren't there _actual, literal giant squid_ down there or something? Isn't the Marinara Trench –"

"Marianas," a dryly bland voice that was distinctly _not_ Mr Sanders', nor Riley's, interjected.

"Whatever!" the purple-clad one replied. "Isn't it the literally deepest darkest place on Earth? I bet there's all _kinds_ of weird crap down there and here he is just… blathering on like it's no different from anywhere else! How can _anyone_ manage to make the setting of _20,000 Leagues Under the Sea_ , so… _boring!?"_

"Actually…I don't know that the Marianas Trench had actually been discovered yet back then," came the pensive-sounding reply. 

And yup, Riley was _very_ zoned out, because now another girl (again visible only to her), was on the floor next to the other one. Visually speaking she was strikingly similar to the other, but with little if any makeup and dressed in a light blue blouse and dark blue pencil skirt combination that vaguely made her look like she was going for a job interview or volunteering at a library. She was also sitting primly, rather than laying sprawled over the tile.  
  
"Verne was writing in something like the late 1800s, was he not?” said the invisible girl in blue, whose name was Athena. “It's quite possible the Marianas Trench is actually deeper than 20,000 Leagues. I'd have to check. I do seem to recall something about it possibly being deeper than Mount Everest is tall, though. Though I may be admittedly confusing it with Olympus Mons, on Mars. Everest is greatly overused as a measurement comparison, frankly, especially seeing as most people have never directly seen it – "

"Ugh! That's even worse!” Calliope interjected, and with a distinct hiss. “That's so deep! And yet there's _life_ down there still! At the like… vent things, right?" She was rubbing her palms against her eyelids now. Which if she were real to anybody else, would probably have smeared her Very Dramatic purple and black eye makeup, but since she wasn’t, it didn’t.

"There is, yes. And I believe around some of the corpses of say, whales, which sink to the bottom after death."

"Ugh! I bet it's weird as heck! Real life sea monsters! Why can't we talk about _that?_ I mean, giant squid are _real_ , right? Do they attack subs in real life? Do they have weird little societies down there!? _These_ are the questions I want answered, here."

"I think we would have heard if they were attacking submarines in the modern era, Calliope. And… I don't believe squid are generally known to be social species."

"Bleh! Kalamari Killjoy. I want my real-life sea monsters, damn it! Let this class be actually _interesting_ for a change." 

Athena sighed.  
  
“I know,” she said softly. Almost mournfully. 

Riley glanced toward them and saw Calliope frowning. 

“…you okay there, Geek Squad?”

“I’m fine.”

“You don’t _sound_ fine.”

“I…” Athena paused, and let out a slow breath. “I just wish we could be learning something more than just… the same things we already read in the textbook, is all.”  
  
“…read ahead again, didya?” Calliope said dryly.  
  
“It’s better to receive information in more than one format anyway.”

“…yeah, and it sure don’t help that Snoozers up there makes it hard to even focus on the material.”  
  
Athena let out a soft huff. “ _I’m_ not the one whose function is pulling said attention away from the lecture, _Calliope_.”

Calliope rolled her eyes.

“Uh-huh. Sure. And _you’re_ totally trying to pay attention either, as opposed to wishing he would at least cover something _new_ or _fresh_ for a change. Don’t think I don’t notice how twitchy _you_ get during lunch and P.E, my Curious Contrarian.”

Athena was, no doubt, planning to respond, given the irritated-sounding huff she let out.

However, she did not get the chance. Because for once, something interesting was happening in Mr Sanders’ classroom that did _not_ involve someone needing to break out an EpiPen or an inhaler.

Leaving aside the fact a handful of other students had actually shown some sort of interest in the subject, Mr Sanders was… going to _YouTube?_

“Ooh!” Calliope said, quickly sitting up. “Oooh! _Video_ time!? Are we gonna at least get some Bill Nye clips up in here or something? Or that Tyson guy? DeGrassi whatever? He’s kinda cool –”

“Neil deGrasse Tyson,” Athena murmured in correction, though almost offhandedly, her own attention drawn to the same screen, which had loaded a video of underwater footage of –

“Oooh, **‘Fanfin Seadevil’** \- that is _such_ a cool name!” Calliope muttered, and then snickered as the woman narrating it described the female Fanfin Seadevil as “ _floating like an underwater disco queen_ ”.

“Oh, bioluminescence!” Athena said quietly. “You know, I’ve always wondered what the mechanism is for that – hers is _magnificent_ , though –”  
  
“Bio what now?” Calliope whispered, trying not to be too loud for them to pay attention to the video of what was, frankly, a fascinatingly hideous fish.

“Bioluminescence,” Athena repeated. “It means a living creature that produces its own light, biologically.”  
  
“Holy crow-ley, they _glow in the dark!_? That’s so awesome!” 

It was perhaps testament to Athena’s level of interest in the video that she didn’t bother correcting Calliope on the matter of Crowley from _Good Omens_ not, in fact, being ‘holy’, by literal definition. 

“Oh, it’s a species of anglerfish!” Athena said, instead. “They’re called that because they’re carnivores that use a bioluminescent protrusion as a lure for prey.”

Calliope giggled softly. “Uh, yeah, Nerd, you didn’t have to specify it’s a carnivore, I kinda figured it was from the _gaping maw_ filled with _giant needles_ for teeth.” As the narrator of the video described the _“whisker-like network”_ of splayed, bioluminescent fins that were used to attract prey, she added: “Ohhh cool! So it’s like a sexy hypnotic fan dance! Get it? Because it’s a _‘fan-fin’?”_

“Uh-huh,” Athena said, distractedly, as her mouth dropped open. She leaned forward, attention completely fixed on the screen. “Oh, my gosh – Calli! Calli, look at that!” she said, tapping her conversational companion and pointing to the footage. “The male is _so much smaller!_ I know females are often larger in many species, but that looks almost like a different _species!”_

“Whoa,” Calliope said, eyes widening and words uncharacteristically, if briefly, failing her. “Whoa, _what?”_

“So _that’s_ why they look so different – goodness,” Athena muttered, and she was smiling now, as the narrator went on to describe how the two firmly-attached fish were engaging in _“repeated spawning events.”_

“So, mating, right?” Calliope said, and then chortled as the narrator clarified _“aka sweet, sweet love making”,_ declaring: “I was right! Also whoever wrote the script for this video is amazing and I officially love them.”

“Yes…” Athena said, mouth still open and eyes wide as the video went into greater detail about the, er, _unusual_ mating practices of the Fanfin Seadevil. Which apparently involved the male latching on with actual teeth as a –

“Okay, I want to know why this is the absolute first time I’m hearing the term ‘sexual parasite’ in our life,” Calliope blurted. “That’s a _thing_ _!_ An actual thing, in _nature_ _!_ That’s _amazing_ _!”_

Athena shushed her, though it lost a bit of its potential weight given she didn’t bother to look at her. “I’m trying to watch!”

“…I’m sorry, their _whats_ fuse!?” Calliope cried, and it was probably a good thing nobody else among Riley’s desk-neighbors could hear her.

“They – they become one contiguous creature,” Athena breathed, in a tone many would reserve for a cathedral, or finding Love At First Sight. “That’s – that’s incredible!”

Riley agreed, sitting up straighter and blurting out, in unison with Calliope:

“Whoa, that _is_ cool!”

“Eee,” Calliope then squealed, as quietly as she could manage. “Oh my god, it’s like a horror movie monster! But also weirdly romantic! Ohhh man, imagine something like _The Shape of Water_ but with –”  
  
“I _can’t_ imagine that, we haven’t actually **seen** _The Shape of Water;_ it’s Rated R, remember?”

“Well, okay, imagine a _fish monster romance_ , with them fusing to become – I dunno, some weird hybrid creature? Like, totally consensual, mind you, I mean there’s some valid symbolism in the opposite but I prefer to stick with women getting to be badass beastly rebels instead of just doing some awkward, possibly half-baked metaphor for sexual assault.”

“It – it wouldn’t be a metaphor, though?” Athena said, glancing at her in confusion. “If that were non-consensual, it would actually _be_ –”

“Well, okay, an _allegory_ for _real-_ world – _anyway_ I’m not doing that! It’s not nearly as much fun as the allure of a forbidden fish man _la femme_ has a fantasy for.”

“…you seriously went to French, a language neither of us really speaks, just to keep up with the alliteration?”

 _“Oui, mon chere,”_ Calliope said, in a far better accent than Riley herself (who also had no idea it should really be _ma chere_ ) would ever be able to generate. She grinned at Athena.

Athena chose to ignore her, because she had noticed others in the class asking questions and was never one to suggest skipping an opportunity to Ask About Things, especially when others were already asking about something as fascinating as deep sea fish.

“Oh! Oh, we should ask him –” Athena suggested, and caught up in the moment, Riley did:  
  
“You said the Mariana Snailfish was the deepest one found,” which _technically_ she hadn’t been paying attention to but knew had been covered. “What do _they_ look like?” Which had, annoyingly _, not_ been covered, even in the textbook, for some reason.

Sadly though, delightful as it was, the Moment had apparently come to a close: Mr Sanders held up his hands, as if trying to physically prevent the questions from reaching him. “Okay, that’s enough,” he said. “We still have actual material to go over. Maybe we can talk about deep sea fish more tomorrow.”

Riley was not the only one to sigh or pout at this, but she was probably the single most disappointed of them. This was one of the coolest things he’d ever helped teach them, they had barely scratched the surface, and now they had to go over the same stuff she already _knew?_

At this point she actually acquiesced to Calliope’s suggestion of doodling in the margins of her notes – it wasn’t like he was one of those weird teachers who collected them after all, so she could get away with it.

She wasn’t doodling Stephen King characters, though.

She was doodling something far more interesting:  
  
A mating pair of Fanfin Seadevils.

Or, well, what she could _recall_ of them from the video, at least. She kept feeling like it was a little _off,_ though, even by the terms of its species' already-bizarre anatomy.

She resolved to google the creature later for reference.

And, well…  
  
Maybe a few other deep sea fish, as well.

  
  



End file.
